Board to tackle portable proposal

CROMWELL -- The Board of Selectman will discuss a proposal to appropriate $200,000 for the purchase and installation of two portable classrooms at the middle school this evening.

JIM HICKEY

Published
12:00 am EDT, Wednesday, September 11, 2002

The board of finance considered funding the portable classrooms through a one-time allocation of capital expenditures last month, before finally recommending that selectman look into borrowing the funds instead.

Most board members said they understood the need for more space at the middle school, but some said they felt modular classrooms might wind up being a detriment to building a new school for grades 3 through 5. Some board members also worried that modular classrooms would account for more close to almost half of this year's capital expenditures, which would preclude several other departments from receiving their capital requests.

After lengthy deliberation, the board endorsed the idea of the modular classrooms, but recommended that selectmen consider the issuance of notes and possible bonding to fund the classrooms.

In total, the board of finance has requested that $450,000 be transferred from the general fund into the capital non-recurring fund. Of that amount, the board of finance has already earmarked $333,900 to go towards the various town department's request, which would leave a balance of around $126,000 left over in the capital fund for contingency funds.

Selectmen will also discuss a request for the appropriation of $150,000 for the purchase and installation of a new shed to cover the sand and salt at the highway garage, which would also be funded through the issuance of notes or bonds.

The need for such a facility was brought to a head earlier this summer when the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) conducted an "unannounced visit" and determined that the current sand and salt facility was not in compliance with DEP standards.

Of the $333,900 in capital expenditure requests already endorsed by the board of finance, $108,000 would go towards the purchase of a new dump truck.

'The board of education would receive $28,000 for the purchase of a new special education van, the police department and public works department would receive $65,000 for the purchase of new mobile radios.

The police department would also receive $53,000 to replace two police cruisers, and town clerk's office would receive $10,200 for the purchase of new map/land record storage units, the public works department would receive $20,000 to fund an "Operational Space Study" and $29,700 for the purchase of a new truck for the recycling center.

In total, the various department heads submitted requests for 20 projects, which totaled around $975,000 in funding. By approving the requests, the board was only making a recommendation to the Board of Selectman, which has the last say on whether projects receive capital funding or not.

Among the requests that the Board of Finance did not endorse was a request by the recreation department for around $60,000 for a new skate park, and a request for around $100,000 from the town planning department to hire a consultant to come up with a new 10-year plan of development.